At The Begining
by Claire O'Donnell
Summary: Hermione, Harry and Ron are in their 7th year instead of their 4th year and Hermione's name has come out the Goblet of Fire as well as Cedric's, Viktor's and Fleur's. Can she handle it?
1. Chapter 1

Hermione shook her head at yet another person putting their name in the Goblet of Fire. Who would want to risk this life just for some silly tournament? Who in their right mine thought this thing was a good idea? Hermione couldn't quite get her head round want Professor Dumbledore was thinking when he agreed to host it at Hogwarts.

The Great Hall glowed a deep blue and Hermione lifted her head from her book to see some Ravenclaw boy receive a congratulatory hug from his friends.

She shook her head again and immerse herself back in her book.

"Come on Granger, when you putting your name in?" Hermione lifted her head out of her book to see Fred and George Weasley staring at her, both of them with big stupid grins on their faces.

She sighed a loud sigh and smiled slightly.

"Never." Was all she answered.

The twins laughed at one another and one of them slapped Hermione gently across the back.

She continued to stare at them.

"George and I are putting our names in now." Fred told her.

Hermione closed her book.

"You and George are only 16 and the rules clearly state you must be 17 to enter." She told them.

Again they both laughed.

"We have brewed up an aging spell to fool it." Fred informed her.

She smiled even more.

"It won't work."

"We'll just have to see." George told her.

They both swigged on their potions and placed the empty bottles next to Hermione.

She watched as Fred and George made their way to the age line which circled the Goblet of Fire.

A crowd had gathered to watch the two underage twins try their luck.

Hermione smiled smugly to herself even when both the twins successfully crossed the age line.

Fred and George looked at one another before their individual pieces of parchment into the Goblet.

They both stared at the Goblet for a good 30 seconds and finally all the students (bar Hermione) starting cheering and clapping.

The twins held their arms up in victory before the Goblet turned a strange shade of green.

Everyone stared at the Goblet which suddenly spit out the two pieces of parchments, knocking the twins to the ground.

They got up and looked at one another. Each of them had long grey hair and beard.

Both of them erupted into fits of laughter at the others appearance.

Hermione shook her head yet again and opened her book.

* * *

The potions lesson ended and Hermione, Harry and Ron made their way to the great hall for lunch.

"I am gonna put my name in the Goblet." Ron told them both, proudly.

Hermione tutted.

"Oh not you as well, Ronald." She said.

He looked at Hermione and raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously what do you have about this competition?" He asked her.

"How about the fact there is a history of people dying in this competition? Isn't that enough to put you off?" She said.

"Dumbledore wouldn't have allowed it to be held at Hogwarts if he didn't have faith that no-one was going to get hurt." Ron said, smugly.

Hermione sighed. Suppose he had a point.

"Today's the last day so we better to do it at the end of lunch." Harry told Ron.

Ron nodded sharply.

The three of them entered the Great Hall which was far more packed than usual thanks to the two schools which had visited to also take part in the Triwizard Tournament.

Beauxbatons was a French school and their head mistress, Madame Maxime, was half giant. The school followed a much stricter system than Hogwarts as every time the headmistress entered the room, all of their students stood up. The students wore grey and blue silks uniforms.

The other school was Dumstrang. The Bulgarian school was well known for it's study of the dark arts rather than defense against the dark arts. Igor Karkaroff was their headmaster.

Harry, Ron and Hermione took their seats next to Ginny and the twins and watched as a Hufflepuff from a few of their classes got up and put his name into the Goblet of Fire.

Hermione instantly recognized him as Cedric Diggory. A good looking boy who had never taken any notice of her. He was tall, well built and he had messy bronze hair. He had beautiful blue eyes, a strong jaw line and full lips. Every girl in Hogwarts pretty much had a crush on Cedric.

Cedric smiled as the Goblet shone blue and sat back into his seat where his friends congratulated him.

Ron and Harry got up and made their way to the Goblet.

Hermione watched them as they entered their names at the same time and the room shone blue again.

They high fived one another and sat back next to Hermione.

She sighed.

* * *

Hermione lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling.

Where had this burning desire to enter her name in the Goblet come from?

She thought it was such a stupid idea.

But for some reason she wanted to give it a go. There could only be one champion from each school so she had a slim chance of being the name that came out tomorrow night.

The longer she thought about it, the more she wanted to put her name in.

She tossed and turned and finally threw the covers from off her.

She slipped on her dressing gown and crept out of her dorm room.

Every step she took, she tried so hard to make a noise. This would have been a perfect time to borrow Harry's invisibility cloak.

After what seemed like hours she opened the Great Hall door, the Goblet standing in it's usual place.

Hermione sighed hard as she stood in front of the age line, her parchment in her hand.

She couldn't seriously go through with this could she?

She had her exams to think about. If she failed her N.E.W.T's, how would she be able to handle that?

But it's not like she would put her studies aside for the tournament. Nothing ever came before her studies.

And it was only three tasks in the space of a year; it's not as if they would take up to much of her study time. She could study every spare minute she had until a task came up.

But then, what if the tasks were so difficult they wouldn't take her just a week to figure out?

She looked up at the Goblet and stepped across the age line.

Finally she threw her parchment into the Goblet and watched as it shone bright blue.

She smiled.

It wasn't as if her name was going to get picked anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's another one hope you enjoy.**

**Just a quick note, I have kept Lupin as Defence against the dakr arts teacher as he was one of my favourite. Also Voldermort doesn't exsist =).**

It was the noisiest the Great Hall had ever been in the seven years Hermione had been attending Hogwarts.

An excited gabble had started and everyone one, including Dumstrang and Beauxbaxtons, was gathered in a circle around the Goblet of Fire.

Hermione stared at the cup wishing there was some spell she could put on it to make sure 100% that her name didn't come out.

She had instantly regretted putting her name in the second it had left her hand.

It was too late to turn back though.

Harry and Ron were smiling from ear to ear, wishing each other good luck.

Dumbledore walked into the middle of the circle, in front of the Goblet.

"Quiet please." He said.

He didn't need to shout because the room fell silent instantly.

"The day has come to announce the Triwizard contestants. The Goblet will pick a name from each school. The first school is Beauxbaxtons." Dumbledore announced.

Dumbledore turned to look at the Goblet as it turned a shade of red. After about 30 seconds a piece of parchment flew out of the cup into Dumbledore.

He slowly opened the parchment and looked up.

"The Beauxbaxtons champion is… Fleur Delacour."

All of Beauxbaxtons applauded and cheered as a pretty blonde girl got up from her seat.

Hermione looked over Dean Thomas' shoulder to get a closer look at Fleur.

She had a big smile across her face and her silvery, blonde hair was tied into a ponytail. She was quite small and thin. All the lads stared after her as she walked towards Professor Snape.

Snape motioned for her to enter a door at the back of the Great Hall, which she obeyed.

Dumbledore turned back to the Goblet as it turned red again.

Another piece of parchment flew into Dumbledore's hand.

"The Dumstrang champion is… Viktor Krum."

All of Dumstrang cheered and Viktor raised his arms in victory. He followed Fleur into the room at the back of the room.

Dumbledore turned to the Goblet one last time and Hermione held her breath.

The Goblet turned red and Dumbledore grabbed the flying piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion is… Cedric Diggory."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as Harry and Ron cursed under their breaths.

All of Hufflepuff gave Cedric a small slap on his back as he beamed from ear to ear. He also entered the room at the back.

Dumbledore face the whole room.

"So that is the champions picked for this year…" He started.

No-one was listening to him for the first time ever. The Goblet had started to grow red again and everyone stared at the Goblet intently.

Dumbledore looked at it in surprise. This wasn't supposed to happen.

A fourth, and unexpected, piece of parchment flew into Dumbledore's hand.

Every one looked at him silently and sat waiting with bated breath.

Dumbledore looked at the piece of paper, clearly confused.

He looked around the room.

"Hermione Granger." He shouted.

Hermione felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

No, Cedric was champion. Why had her name come out?

This was against the rules.

She felt everyone's eyes on her and her cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink.

Professor McGonagall grabbed her arm gently and pulled her up from her seat.

She looked at Dumbledore open mouthed. She couldn't quite fathom out how this had happened.

She hadn't cheated. She didn't even want to be part of the competition.

McGonagall didn't let go of her arm and led her to the room the other three champions had gone to.

Hermione still hadn't closed her mouth as she entered the room.

She looked at the three champions who looked back at her with the same confusion as everyone else had in the Great Hall.

"Sit there." McGonagall instructed, sitting Hermione in the nearest chair.

Hermione's body had gone numb so she obediently sat in the chair.

McGonagall looked at her with sympathy before leaving the room.

"What iz she doing 'ere?" She heard Fleur say in a strong French accent.

Hermione ignored her as the lump that had built up in her throat started to hurt.

Suddenly a tear escaped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away as Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall and Professor Lupin entered the room.

They all went straight over to Hermione.

"Did you put a hex on the Goblet?" Lupin asked her immediately.

"No." She sobbed, the tears flowing down her cheeks. "I put my name in late last night. I didn't even want to be picked."

"Don't be stupid. You wouldn't 'ave put your name in if you didn't." Fleur scoffed.

"No I promise. I instantly regretted it but I couldn't get my name back out." Hermione continued to sob.

McGonagall handed her a tissue which she promptly took.

Dumbledore crouched down so he was at Hermione's eye level.

"I believe you. And I have called for Barty Crouch to be here at once to see if you have to compete." Dumbledore explained.

Hermione just nodded silently while more tears crept down her cheeks.

The door swung open and everyone looked to see a tall, thin man enter the room.

He was clearly quite old; he had a thick moustache and a bowler hat as well as a long clock.

"Barty that was quick. Did you use Snape's office for the floo network?" Dumbledore asked.

Barty ignored Dumbledore's question.

"Where is she?" He asked.

Dumbledore nodded his head in Hermione's direction, who was still crying.

"She has to compete, no question. Those are the rules. Whoever's name comes out the Goblet must compete. What hex did you put on it girl?" He said a harsh tone to his voice.

"I didn't put a hex on it, I promise. Please don't make me compete." Hermione screeched.

Barty looked at her, his eyes showed no emotion.

"No I am sorry those are the rules and we must follow them. Granger must compete." Barty announced.

Hermione put her head in hands and sobbed into them.

McGonagall put an arm around her and whispered it's OK in her ear.

"That is cheating." Fleur shouted. "Hogwarts 'as two champions!"

"The Goblet has chosen its champions. They must all compete." Barty repeated before retreating out the room.

Dumbledore sighed.

"I am sorry Miss Granger." Dumbledore said a genuine sympathy to his tone.

McGonagall loosened her arm from around Hermione's shoulder as Hermione lifted her head out of her hands. Her eyes were red raw.

"It's OK." She whispered.

Madame Maxime and Karkaroff entered the room making their way straight to their champions.

"Zis is an outrage, Dumbleydore. You can not have two champions, zat is cheating." Maxime said.

"Barty has spoken and Hermione has no choice but to compete. As you can see she is not happy about it either." Dumbledore told her.

Maxime scoffed as she saw Hermione's red face.

Karkaroff snorted as well.

"I will do everything in my power to make sure that girl does not win." He said.

Hermione buried her head in her hands again.

She felt an arm go round her shoulder and assumed it was McGonagall again.

She looked up into someone's deep blue eyes. Cedric smiled at her as his hand gripped her shoulder.

"It'll be OK." He smiled.

Hermione smiled back at him and nodded slightly.

"Thanks." She whispered.


	3. Chapter 3

Here is the next one. Enjoy

Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room as quietly as she could.

Suddenly some pulled her into a hug. She looked into Ginny's bright brown eyes and Ginny was beaming from ear to ear.

"Can you believe this happened? Hogwarts has got to win now what with you AND Cedric competing." Ginny said to her.

Hermione just looked down at the floor.

She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and looked up into all of her fellow students eyes.

They all looked so expectant, so proud that Gryffindor had a chance of winning.

She smiled slightly but her smile dropped when she noticed Ron and Harry in the corner of the room.

They both had their heads down and refused to meet Hermione's eyes.

She raised an eyebrow at them and brushed passed Ginny to get to them.

Hermione stood between where they were sitting and stared at them.

They both avoided her gaze.

"Are you two OK?" She asked them.

Neither of them said anything. Harry looked up at her but dropped his head down quickly.

"What is up with you pair?" She demanded.

"How about the fact that you have moaned about that competition for weeks and weeks then conveniently your name comes out the Goblet? As well as that Digger guys name." Ron said, finally looking at Hermione.

Hermione stared at them both in shock.

"I didn't ask for name to come out the Goblet. I did not want any part of this competition; I just put my name in for fun. Everyone else was doing it." She said, trying not to cry again.

"Oh come off it, Hermione. You have never been the girl who followed the crowd." Ron scoffed at her.

Hermione had no come back to that because Ron was right.

Deep down she had no idea why she put her name in the Goblet. Maybe she did it thinking her name would never come out. The odds must have been like 700 to 1.

"What hex did you use to make sure your name came out?" Harry finally piped up.

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Even her two best friends, or so called best friends, believed she had cheated somehow.

Hermione had never cheated in her entire life and she wasn't about to so she could compete in some life threatening tournament.

"I didn't." was simply all she said.

Ron rolled his eyes at her.

She threw him a dirty look before retreating to her room and throwing herself straight onto the bed.

* * *

Hermione made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast and straight away everyone stared to look at her.

She could hear all the Hufflepuffs whispering rude things about her and giving her the most evil looks out of everyone.

"Gryffindor were never gonna let Hufflepuff have the glory for once were they? Cheats." She heard some say.

She span on her heels and ran out of Hogwarts.

Hermione sat herself down by the lake and looked out across it.

She wished she had her time turner to go back in time and not put her name in that damn cup.

None of this would have happened then.

"I brought you a croissant." She heard a voice behind her say.

She turned round to see Cedric standing above her.

He sat down next to her and handed her the croissant.

She took it from and mouth thanks.

"It'll all die down soon anyway." Cedric said.

"Are you not mad at me?" Hermione asked him.

Cedric chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah, I don't care as long as it's a Hogwarts champion. The houses shouldn't compete." He said.

She whispered thanks again.

Cedric got to his feet and put of his hand for Hermione to grab.

"Come on. We got that photo shoot for the Daily Prophet to do." He smiled.

Hermione sighed a disapproving sigh and put her hand in Cedric's allowing him to pull her to her feet.

* * *

Some photographer was pushing Hermione all over the place and she was starting to lose her cool with him.

He pushed her closer to Cedric who was standing next to her so their shoulders were touching.

He messed with Fleur's already perfect hair and made Viktor put one foot in front of the other.

"Perfect." He finally said.

The photographer starting taking pictures ordering them all to smile and after about 20 flashes of the camera, he lifted his head to look at them.

"Great." He smiled, before hastily leaving the room.

Hermione sighed loudly. She has classes to get to couldn't this guy hurry things up a bit.

"Oh iz the cheatin' girl getting fed up 'ith her fame already." Fleur sneered.

Hermione looked down at Fleur, who was sitting on a chair in front of all the other champions.

"I have classes that I need to get to actually." Hermione answered back.

Fleur laughed at Hermione.

"You can forget your classes while you are competing." Fleur said, just before the photographer came out again.

"OK guys done for today. Dumbledore insists you all get to your classes." He said, looking almost downtrodden.

Hermione grabbed her bag and went to make a hasty exit but someone grabbed her arm.

"I… erm… wish you good… luck. No hard… feelings." Viktor said to her, though she could tell his English wasn't very good.

Hermione smiled at him.

"Thanks."

Viktor smiled back and let go of Hermione's arm before leaving the room.

Cedric came over to Hermione.

"What did he want?" He asked her.

Hermione just shook her head and left the room as well.

On the way to lunch, Hermione bumped into someone.

She looked up in Draco Malfoy's black eyes and went to push past him but he grabbed her arm.

"How dare some filthy mud blood enter the competition? It's disgusting you were picked." He sneered at her.

"Like your opinion matters anyway Malfoy." She said back, yanking her arm out of his grip.

"No-one here supports you mud blood, you might as well quit!" Malfoy shouted after her.

Hermione tried hard to fight back the tears but she wasn't having much luck.

* * *

Hermione immersed herself in the book she had picked out in the library though she had read it a hundred times before.

Truth was she missed Harry and Ron. She needed them to support her but they had turned their backs on her like everyone else.

She didn't understand all the backlash. How did her name also come out the cup?

Someone must have jinxed the goblet to make that happen.

But who? Who would want Hermione to compete in the competition?

She sighed and shook her head, going back to her book. The words had started to merge together to make black blobs and her head started to hurt.

She slammed the book shut. How was she suppose to read with a million one things going through her head?

"Got something on your mind?" She heard Cedric say.

She looked at him and he smiled at her.

She smiled slightly back and held her head in her hands.

Cedric sat next to her and place a reassuring hand on her back.

"Hermione, it really isn't as bad as you think it is." He said.

She snapped her head towards him.

"Why are you being so nice?" She asked him.

He chuckled the most adorable chuckle and Hermione felt her stomach do a little flip.

"It's call sympathy. It's not your fault your name came out the goblet. Maybe it's just fate that both you and I were to compete in this competition." He explained.

Hermione looked into Cedric's blue eyes and she felt herself melt.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Plus we got to work together through this. Your brains and my brawn means Hogwarts can walk this." He laughed.

Hermione laughed with and realized it was the first time she had laughed in two days.

Cedric made her relax about the whole competition. Suddenly with him around it didn't seem quite so scary.

"You're right. Hogwarts is gonna win." She said.

Cedric smiled a crooked smile and Hermione's stomach did another little flip.

"That's the spirit." Cedric pulled Hermione into a hug and she embraced it.

* * *

Hermione walked up to Gryffindor common room and smiled for the first time in ages.

As she entered the common room and walked the stairs up to her dormitory she thought more about Cedric and how he made he feel.

Suddenly she stopped outside her dormitory door.

No, she couldn't fall for him. The last thing she needed to do right now was fall for a boy when her mind had another things swirling around it.

She got into bed and smiled to herself again.

Having said that, Cedric was no ordinary boy.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione took another glance behind her as she reached the entrance of Hogwarts.

She had never snuck of the school after hours. Not without Harry and Ron anyway.

She just hoped whatever Hagrid had to say was important because the last thing she needed right now was to get into trouble.

Hermione slowly closed the door and raced as quickly as she could to Hagrid's little hut.

She slammed the door shut behind her and tried to catch her breath back.

"Ah there you are 'ermione. Wha' took ya so long?" Hagrid smiled at her.

She looked up at him and smiled back.

"It's after hours." She laughed.

Hagrid mouthed oh.

"Better make this quick then." He said.

Hagrid grabbed a lamp of the side and motioned for Hermione to follow him, which she did obediently.

"We're goin' in tha forbidden forest. Don't mind do ya?" Hagrid asked.

Hermione shook her head politely but though to herself that she didn't have much choice in the matter.

Every one step Hagrid took, Hermione had to take five to keep up and she was running out of breath again.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Hermione saw something glowing in the distance. Glowing like fire.

She then heard a raucous roar and jumped back a couple of steps.

"Erm… Hagrid, this might be the part where you tell me what's going on." She said, hearing the nerves in her voice.

Hagrid chuckled.

"No need to be 'fraid 'ermione. They're just dragons." He laughed.

Hermione felt her mouth fall open. Dragons she gulped.

She slowly followed Hagrid and took in the sight of the magnificent but scary creatures.

"And why are there dragons on Hogwart's ground?" She said, dreading the answer to the question.

"Well I've been 'elping the guys look afta' the cuties and one of 'em told me the dragons 'ave something do wit' the first task. One reckons you'll 'ave to retrieve something by fighting off the dragon." Hagrid told her, as though fighting off a dragon was the most simplest of tasks.

Hermione's mouth went dry. And she watched the dragon's wide eyed.

No wonder she didn't want to enter this stupid and dangerous competition.

Hermione trudged back over the grounds back to Hogwarts.

Muttering to herself, she couldn't believe that Dumbledore had agreed to let four seventeen year old kids fight off dragons. Fire breathing, life threatening dragons!!! This was the most insane thing she had ever heard.

And she lived in a magical world!

As she went to open the door to Hogwarts, a hand slapped her on the shoulder.

"Gah!" She gasped in shock.

She turned to see Cedric holding his sides he was laughing that much.

"Ha… if you… could… ha… have… seen your… ha-ha…face" He managed to get through laughs.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at her and put one hand on her hip.

"Not funny, Diggory." She said.

Cedric wiped a tear from his eye and gained control of himself.

"Anyway what are you doing out of the grounds after hours?" He said, mimicking Hermione's hand on hip stance.

"I had… business to attend to." She said, feeling flustered.

Cedric raised an eyebrow at her.

Hermione sighed.

Hagrid had told her he had taken Madame Maxime to meet the dragons on a date. Not Hermione's idea of an ideal date but still this was Hagrid she was talking about.

And she was pretty sure Maxime would have let Fleur know what she was up against.

And Karkaroff was sneaky to make sure he had found out what the first task was so he and Krum could have worked together.

"OK but promise you won't tell anyone?" Hermione said.

Cedric nodded and leaned closer in to Hermione.

She had to catch her breath.

"The first task involved dragons." She whispered.

"Oh. I already knew that." He smiled, leaning back away from her.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah I followed Hagrid and the French headmistress to have a look. I knew Hagrid was involved in it somehow. I was actually going to tell you but I haven't seen you all week." Cedric said.

Hermione felt herself go red.

"I've been really busy. Studying." She said.

Cedric nodded and smiled.

"You fancy working on this dragon thing together then?" He asked her.

Hermione felt the smile go across her face and she nodded, trying to act cool.

"Sounds like a plan." She said.

Hermione sat next to Ginny at breakfast the next morning and was getting tired of the evil looks from Harry and Ron.

"Oh leave them too it. One day they'll grow up and realise they are wrong." Ginny told her.

Hermione smiled.

"Thanks for sticking by me." She said.

Ginny smiled at her.

"Of course I am. I know you didn't cheat."

Hermione smiled again.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see Krum staring down at her.

"Erm…Hermy. I… erm… Good… moaning." Viktor said.

"Good morning to you Viktor." She smiled.

Viktor smiled back at her. He went to speak again but was interrupted by the arrival of Cedric.

"Everything alright?" Cedric smiled, looking at Viktor.

"Yes… just… erm.. Telling Hermy… good moaning." Viktor smiled.

"Good… moaning?" Cedric repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Viktor nodded his head in satisfaction and waved at Hermione and Ginny before joining his class mates.

"Good… moaning?" Cedric repeated.

"He meant good morning. His English isn't that good." Hermione smiled.

Hermione saw the realisation hit Cedric.

"Oh.. I thought he meant… never mind. I got a free period at 2 if you want to get some ideas together." He asked her.

Hermione nodded.

"2 is fine. Meet you in the library." She said.

Cedric smiled and joined the other Hufflepuffs, who were clearly not happy he had been speaking to Hermione.

"He _clearly _has a crush on you." Ginny said, staring at Hermione.

Hermione just look at Ginny like she was being stupid.

"We are just helping each other out." Hermione protested.

"Nah, you should have seen his face when he saw Viktor talking to you. He well fancies you. I have a sneaky suspicion you might like him." Ginny smiled at Hermione.

Hermione faked a laugh which didn't sound sincere at all.

"No, don't be silly. I have far more important things on my mind than boys." She said.

Ginny didn't looked convinced at all.

Hermione snuck a glance at Cedric. Yes OK maybe she had a tiny little crush on him but who in Hogwarts didn't have a crush on Cedric?

The fact of the matter was Cedric could have his pick of all the girls and Ginny was wrong in thinking he was going to fall for plain old Hermione.

Or so Hermione told herself.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione took a deep breathe as she looked at the champions tent.

Here she was about to do her first task and even though she and Cedric had practised religiously she still felt more nervous than she had ever done before in her life.

Slowly she lifted up the tent door and saw Fleur, Viktor and Cedric were already there.

Cedric smiled at her as she walked in and she began to relax a little.

Dumbledore entered the tent with Barty Crouch. Barty had a small bag in his hand.

"Are you all ready, champions?" Dumbledore asked everyone.

Hermione noticed Fleur and Viktor looked as nervous as she did, but Cedric looked pretty confident. She wished she had his optimism.

"Right, in this bag is a small model of which dragon you will face. You must retrieve the golden egg it is protecting as this will give you a clue for the next task." Barty announced. "Who wants to pick first?"

Cedric stood up straight away and put his hand in the bag.

The small dragon moved in his hand. It had a number one around its neck.

"The Swedish short-snout." Barty informed him.

Cedric smiled at Hermione and she forced a smile back.

Fleur went next and she picked a welsh Green with a number three round its neck as Viktor picked a Chinese Fireball with a number two round it's next.

Barty walked over to Hermione with the bag held open for her to pick the last dragon out of the bag.

She sighed and slowly put her hand in the bag. She pulled the small dragon out of it and looked deeply at it. Barty didn't need to tell her what dragon she had picked.

"The Hungarian Horntail." Barty told her in a deep voice.

Hermione looked at the number four handing from the small dragon's neck.

"Now the numbers are the order in which you will face your dragon so I believe Mr Diggory is first." Barty smiled at Cedric who smiled back at him.

Cedric took a deep breathe and winked at Hermione before walking out to a loud applause.

Hermione sat and listen to each champion fighting their dragon. She was getting more nervous by the second and it sounded like everyone had done really well so far.

Dumbledore finally walked over to her.

"Your turn Miss Granger." He said.

She got up slowly and turned to Dumbledore.

"Wish me luck." She said.

"You won't need it." Dumbledore smiled.

Hermione smiled slightly and pushed back the tent door.

The sunlight hit her as most of the crow applauded. She shielded her eyes with her hand and looked to see the crowd. Harry and Ron weren't even watching her.

Suddenly the dragon's tail came crashing down in front of her and she jumped back in shock.

It took her all her might not to scream.

She pulled her wand out of her robes and stared up at the dragon that was staring straight back at her.

Hermione had to catch her breath and she shook her head.

She spotted the golden egg behind the dragon and realised she had to retrieve the egg.

Without warning, the dragon exhaled fire at Hermione who jumped behind a rock to escape the flames.

She watched as they flew past her and felt the heat in her face.

The fire stopped and she sat behind the rock for a few seconds deciding her next move.

There was no way she could stun this dragon at this size. Why did she have the pick the biggest dragon out of the bag?

Then it was almost as if a light bulb went off in her head. She didn't know if it would work but right now she was prepared to do anything.

She stood up and jumped on the rock she had been hiding behind.

The dragon took another looked at her. Hermione pointed her wand at it and tried her hardest not to sound nervous.

"Diminuendo!" She yelled as loud as she could.

A large blue flame came out of her wand and hit the dragon.

Hermione watched as the dragon shrunk gradually in front of her. She held the spell until the dragon was the same size as the model she had picked out the bag.

She smiled smugly to herself as she watched the dragon tried to breathe a threatening flame at her.

Hermione picked up the golden egg, which was heavier than she expected, and listened as the crowd gave her a loud cheer.

She looked at the crowd and saw even Harry and Ron were applauding her which made her smile even more.

She entered the medical tent where Viktor and Fleur were being treated for some minor burns.

Cedric seemed to have escaped any injury.

He ran straight over to Hermione.

"I can't believe you use that shrinking spell I though you were gonna stun it." He said.

"I was never going to stun a Hungarian Horntail. I needed to think of something else." She smiled.

All of a sudden Cedric pulled her into a tight hug.

Hermione's heart did a little flip as she hugged him back.

"You did it though!" He smiled at her, beaming from ear to ear.

"We did it." She corrected him.

"I 'ad you all 'rong, 'ermione. Well done." Fleur said to her.

Hermione smiled back at Fleur.

Finally everything was falling into place.

Hermione opened the Gryffindor common room door and suddenly hundreds of people jumper on her. Hugging her, clapping at her and smiling at her.

She couldn't believe all these people finally supported you.

"Oh Hermione, you were amazing. Even Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are supporting you now!" Ginny told her.

"I fluked it. I was suppose to stun it but I had to pick the biggest bugger!" She said.

Ginny shook her head.

"No way. You got such high marks. A 10, two 9s, an eight and a four. Karkaroff is such a cheat." Ginny told her.

Hermione smiled to herself slightly.

"Only Cedric did better than you. He transfigured a rock into a Labrador to distract it. Cedric didn't get hurt at all. Fleur did some weird trance on her dragon but it didn't fully work. Set her robes on fire, was so funny. And Viktor put the conjunctivitis charm on his dragon which meant it smashed a lot of the other eggs. He lost points for that." Ginny told Hermione at high speed. Hermione almost couldn't keep up.

"Well there is still two other tasks to go." Hermione said, trying to stop herself from beaming with pride.

"Yeah open the egg, Hermione. See what it says." Dean Thomas shouted towards her.

Hermione flicked the catch on the egg and slowly opened it.

But it shrieked a high pitched shriek that made everyone cover their ears.

Hermione shut it quickly.

"I think I'll leave that till later." She said.

Hermione looked across the room and saw Harry and Ron looking at her.

She walked over towards them.

"Have you two grown up yet?" She said.

They both looked at their feet and shuffled nervously.

"Sorry Hermione. We should have believed you. You did so well against that dragon." Harry said.

Ron was still looking at his feet so Harry gave him a slight elbow in the ribs.

"You were great Hermione." Ron said.

Hermione smiled and pulled them both into a hug.

"Silly boys." She whispered loud enough for them both to hear.

All three of them smiled into the hug.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the lack of updates I have been soooooo busy but finally here is the next one....**

* * *

Hermione sat in the corridor allowing the world to just pass her by.

She felt someone sit next to her and turned to see Viktor staring down at his hands.

"Hello Hermy." He said slowly.

She smiled back at him and whispered hello.

"I… am asking… you… to a...a...come with me… to… Yule Ball?" Viktor said.

Hermione opened her mouth in shock and quickly snapped it back shut.

"Oh Viktor. I am sorry but someone has already asked me." She said.

Viktor sighed dejected and Hermione felt a prang of guilt as he did so.

Truth was lots of boys had asked her just not the one she wanted to.

"I am really sorry but I am flattered." She said, trying to help the awkwardness of the situation.

Viktor nodded and then smiled.

"It is OK, Hermy." He smiled and grabbed her hand and squeezed it before getting up to leave.

Hermione sighed.

Then someone sat in the same place Viktor had just been sitting.

Cedric smiled at Hermione.

"You doing anything later?" He asked her.

Hermione smiled and shook her head.

"Meet me outside Hufflepuff common room with your egg, a swimming costume and a towel." He whispered to her.

Before Hermione had chance to ask him anything else he had gone.

Hermione watched after him with one eyebrow rose.

* * *

Hermione slipped on her robes over her bikini just in case Cedric was playing some trick on her.

She tucked her egg under her arm and made her way to the Hufflepuff common room.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Cedric standing there. He also had his robes on.

"I hope you have trunks on under there." She said, firmly.

Cedric looked taken back by her sharpness but then laughed.

"Of course I have. I'm not going swimming fully clothed." He said.

Hermione tried to laugh but right now she was too nervous to.

"You ever been to the prefect's baths?" Cedric asked.

"No. Can you believe they made Lavender Brown prefect over me? I am a perfect student for crying out loud." Hermione said.

It made Hermione's blood boil when she remembered the day Professor McGonagall choose Lavender over her.

Cedric just looked at her.

"Anyway… that's where we are headed." He said.

He grabbed Hermione's hand and led her to the bathrooms.

Hermione couldn't believe her eyes when they got inside.

The bath was huge, big enough to be a swimming pool, and there were at least 15 different taps.

Cedric filled the bath up and use some of the taps to fill it with loads of bubbles.

Hermione laughed when she saw it.

She took her eyes off the bath though when she saw Cedric take off his robe.

Whoa he had a good body!

She slowly took off her own robe, to take her mind off drooling, and suddenly felt self conscious.

"Right you're in first Granger." Cedric said, rubbing his hands together.

"Erm I don't think so Diggory." She smiled, mockingly putting her hand on her hip.

Cedric smiled and walked towards her.

"Oh I do think so." He said.

He grabbed Hermione by her waist and picked her up.

"No Cedric stop!" Hermione screamed through her laughs.

She pulled on everything to stop Cedric from pushing her in.

Suddenly her foot caught on something and she watched as her egg rolled into the water.

"CEDRIC MY EGG!" She yelled.

Cedric let her go and they both dived into the bath.

But neither of them were quick enough to stop it from falling to the bottom of the bath.

As it hit the bottom it came open but the bath filled with music.

"_Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground,  
And while you're searching, ponder this:  
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,  
An hour long you'll have to look,  
And to recover what we took,  
But past an hour - the prospect's black  
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back._

_An hour long you'll have to look,  
And to recover what we took...,  
... your time's half-gone, so tarry not  
Lest what you seek stays here to rot...."_ It sang.

When it finished, Hermione grabbed it and she and Cedric swam to the surface.

They looked at each other.

"What does it mean?" Cedric said.

"We cannot sing above the ground? Mermaids, they can't sing above water." Hermione said, looking at Cedric.

"Are there mermaids in the Hogwarts Lake?" Cedric asked.

"I don't know. Maybe." She answered

"Ponder this? We've taken what you'll sorely miss? I assume that means they are taken something that belongs to us." Cedric said, grabbing onto the side of the bath,

"And hour long you'll have to look to recover what we took and past the hour, the prospects black. Too late it's gone, it won't come back." Hermione said.

"Pretty self explanatory." Cedric smiled.

"But how do we breathe under water for an hour?" Hermione said, placing the egg by her towel.

"Could transfigure into a fish?" Cedric answered.

Hermione looked at him.

"This will be very helpful if it's a big item you have to recover." She said.

Cedric nodded.

They both sat and pondered for a moment.

"We'll have to go the library tomorrow and see what we can find." Hermione said.

Cedric laughed slightly.

"What?" Hermione said.

"You and the library. Books don't have the answers to everything you know." He smiled.

"They will have better suggestions that turning into a fish." Hermione said, poking her tongue out.

Cedric looked at her.

He grabbed her head and dunked her under the water.

Hermione came up gasping for air.

"How rude?!" She exclaimed.

She swam after her and grabbed his arm before getting his head and dunking him under the water in revenge.

Cedric came up for breath and grabbed Hermione.

She pushed his chest, giggling and screaming.

Cedric stopped and Hermione looked at him.

Cedric brought his head closer to Hermione's. She closed her eyes and puckered up for a kiss.

"Oh you shouldn't be in here." Came a screechy voice.

They both snapped away before their lips can touch and saw moaning Myrtle sitting the other side of the bath.

"Myrtle, what are you doing?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Well I heard screaming from inside the pipes so I can to see what was going on. That's when I found you two in here." Myrtle said.

"I'm a prefect. I can be in here." Cedric said, clearly shocked by Myrtle's sudden appearance.

Myrtle just tutted.

"Anyway we were just going." Hermione said, climbing out and grabbing her towel.

Cedric followed suit.

"Oh don't mind me, carry on." Myrtle said.

Hermione looked at her, her eyebrows creased together.

She and Cedric dried off and slipped back into their robes before literally running out of the bathroom.

Cedric walked her to the Gryffindor common room.

"Stupid Myrtle." Hermione cursed.

Cedric laughed.

"All I know is I am wearing trunks every time I use that bath incase she decided to drop in again." Cedric said.

Hermione smiled slightly.

"Don't forget, we need to figure out how to breathe under water for an hour." Hermione reminded him.

Cedric looked at her.

"We got like months to figure that out…" He started.

"Three." Hermione corrected him.

"Anyway before that is the Yule Ball and well… I was kind of hoping you would come with me?" Cedric asked her.

It felt as though Hermione's heart had leapt into her mouth.

She had to cough to get her voice back.

"I'd love to." She smiled.

Cedric smiled as well.

"Great." He said.

Hermione just looked at him, even angrier at Myrtle for ruining their moment.

"I better get off to bed." Hermione said.

Cedric nodded.

"Me too. See you in the morning." Cedric said.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and left.

Hermione touched her cheek while watching him walk away.

It was almost perfect.


	7. Chapter 7

Ginny swirled around in the yellow dress and looked at Hermione.

"I prefer the purple one." Hermione told her honestly.

Ginny nodded and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Yeah I do too. You still definitely having the pink one?" Ginny asked, going back into the changing.

"Yep." Hermione answered.

She waited for Ginny to finish in the dressing room.

Ginny came out and handed the lady behind the counter the purple dress.

"So, who's the lucky man?" Hermione asked smiling.

Ginny turned a bright shade of red.

"Promise you won't laugh." Ginny said.

Hermione crossed her heart.

"Harry." Ginny whispered.

"Awwwww." Hermione said.

"HERMIONE!"

"What I didn't laugh?!"

"Yeah but still…" Ginny smiled.

"It's cute." Hermione said, holding back another aw.

"Not as cute as you and Cedric. When are you pair gonna get together?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders as she paid the woman.

Ginny looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that!" Hermione felt herself go red.

Ginny just smiled smugly.

"Well you do fancy him." She said.

Hermione stopped just outside the shop door.

"No…. who told you that?" Hermione said.

Ginny carried on walking so Hermione ran to catch up.

"No-one needed to tell me, it's blinding obvious."

"Yeah well… he is Cedric Diggory, every girl at school fancies him." Hermione said glumly.

"Not every girl at school has learnt to fight dragons with him, or shared a bath with him or… are going to the Yule ball with him?" Ginny said.

Hermione thought about what Ginny had just said. It was true. She had spent a lot of time with Cedric and now she was going to the biggest event of the year as his date. And he had asked her.

"I'd make a move if I were you." Ginny said, awaking Hermione from her thoughts.

Hermione looked at her.

"I am old fashioned. He needs to make the move."

Ginny sighed.

"Well then at least give him a hint you want him to make a move." Ginny said.

Hermione just nodded.

She had never really had a crush before so she wasn't entirely sure how to flirt or how to get someone to "make a move" on her.

But she wasn't about to tell Ginny this.

* * *

Hermione finished putting the last grip into her before she looked at herself in the mirror.

Her long pink gown fell all the way to the floor and her hair was tied into loose girls. Maybe she would look like a girl worthy to be on the arm of Cedric.

She took a deep breath as her mouth went dry.

She didn't understand why she was so nervous.

There was a knock at the door and Hermione managed to croak a "come in".

Ginny quietly entered the dormitory.

"Let's have a look at your dress." Hermione whispered.

Ginny had left her hair naturally straight and she looked gorgeous in her floor length purple gown.

Hermione was jealous of how naturally pretty Ginny was.

"You look great." Hermione told her.

"So do you! Your hair looks awesome." Ginny exclaimed.

Hermione smiled a little embarrassed.

"So Ron's not too happy about me and Harry…" Ginny said, looking down at the floor as she did so.

Hermione just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh ignore him, he is stupid. I'll make him realize Harry is good for you."

Ginny smiled.

"Come on, let's get dancing." Ginny smiled, grabbing Hermione's arm and pulling her down stairs.

* * *

Hermione watched Ginny and Harry laughing together as they walked down the stairs.

She smiled at how cute they looked.

"So you waiting for Cedric?" Ron asked her.

Hermione just nodded, to nervous to speak.

"Luna should be here in a moment to." Ron said, pretending to look for her.

"Luna? As in Luna Lovegood?" Hermione asked him, smiling.

Ron just nodded.

"I didn't even know you liked her." Hermione said, curious.

"Yes well… You are going with Cedric." Ron said, avoiding Hermione's gaze.

"Excuse me?" Hermione said getting confused.

"Hey." Luna came to Ron's side wearing an unusual netting dress that just reached her knees.

"See you in there Granger." Ron said, taking Luna's arm.

Hermione looked after them, choosing to ignore what Ron had just said. She caught a glimpse of Cedric waiting for her.

She hid away from his sight trying to grab some composure.

He looked stunning as usual.

Hermione took a deep breath and finally told herself to get a grip.

She held her head high and walked down the stairs towards Cedric.

His mouth fell open as he watched Hermione walked towards him.

She reached him and giggled, his mouth still open.

"Shut your mouth, it's rude." Hermione said, putting her hand on Cedric's chin and gently pushing his mouth closed.

Cedric cleared his throat and put his arm out for Hermione to put hers through his.

"I am sorry." He said.

Hermione just giggled again.

Professor McGonagall came out to all the champions. Hermione hadn't noticed Viktor Krum with Cho Chang, or Fleur with some seventh year she recognized but couldn't put a name to.

She smiled at Viktor but he only slightly smiled back.

"OK champions are you ready for the first dance?" McGonagall asked them.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked into Cedric's blue eyes.

He smiled at her and her nerves seemed to disappear.

The Great Hall doors open and Cedric and Hermione were first through.

They walked through the crowd towards the dance floor as every Hogwarts student cheered for them.

They were quickly joined on the dance floor by the other champions and their dates.

"To warn you in advance I am a naff dancer." Cedric whispered into her ear.

She smiled as the music started.

Cedric grabbed her hand and slipped the other round her waist as she put hers on his shoulder.

They glided round the dance floor to the music.

"You're not that bad." Hermione smiled at Cedric.

"Just don't allow me to look at my feet." He said.

Hermione laughed.

"Then keep your eyes on me." She said.

"That I can do." Cedric smiled.

Slowly more people filled the dance floor including Ginny and Harry who Hermione smiled at.

Luna led Ron onto the dance floor as he awkwardly grabbed her.

Hermione smiled at them too.

* * *

By now the ball was in full spring with Hermione even getting a dance from Hagrid.

She had just got some food when she saw Ron sitting on his own. She made her way over to him.

Sitting into the seat next to him, she sighed.

"Luna's really nice. So she's a bit weird, there's nothing wrong with that." Hermione said, watching Luna talking to Ginny and Harry.

"And you couldn't trust Ginny with any other guy that your own best friend." Hermione said, turning to Ron.

"And you could do worse that Cedric." Ron said, smiling at Hermione.

"You didn't mean what you said earlier did you?" Hermione asked him.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"I was only asking you as a friend." Ron said, laughing slightly.

Hermione smiled.

"I knew that." She said.

Cedric came over and bent down to lean into her ear.

"Come outside." He whispered.

Hermione said bye to Ron and followed Cedric outside the grounds.

"Are we even allowed to be out here?" She said, hitching up her dress in hands so it didn't get muddy.

"Probably not." Cedric laughed.

He stopped by the lake and Hermione stopped next to him.

"You nervous?" He asked her.

"I was more nervous about tonight to be honest." Hermione smiled.

Cedric turned to her.

"Why?"

"Because we have this all figured out but tonight… well that we didn't."

"I think we had it figured out." Cedric smiled.

"I'm glad you did." Hermione said, turning to look at him,

Cedric turned to look at her as well and he smiled.

"Can I ask you a question?" He said.

Hermione nodded.

"Can I kiss you?"

Hermione nodded again.

Cedric grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.

Slowly their lips met and they kissed.

Hermione's heart raced as Cedric wrapped his arms around her waist.

She placed her arms around his neck as they continued to kiss.


End file.
